Supermatter Engine
The supermatter engine is primary source of power for the station. While solar arrays may provide enough power to keep critical systems operational, they won't keep the whole station running at full power. This is where Supermatter steps in. This guide will explain basics of supermatter engine operation. Refer to the Contents tab if you wish to read only specific part of this guide. Basic Operating Principle Before any modifications are made to the engine, it operates as four distinct loops of colored pipes; the engine hot loop (cyan+yellow), the engine cold loop (green+purple), and the waste hot and cold loops (solid purple, opposite side from the engine cold loop). While the engine hot and engine cold loops are physically connected to each other, there are valves preventing them from mixing during normal operation. When energized, the supermatter heats the engine hot loop which flows into the ThermoElectric Generators. The heat transfers through the TEGs, generating electricity, and passes into the engine cold loop. The engine cold loop flows out into a massive radiator in space, providing the actual cooling for the system; without it temperature will run wild until everything melts, which becomes very apparent when a wild space rock or something takes a chunk out of said radiator. While not denoted by different colored pipes like the engine side, the waste loop can be considered two loops as well, separated by a heat exchanger; one side contains hot engine waste and the other is another cold loop that flows through a small radiator in space. As the supermatter does its job, it generates potentially dangerous gasses which end up circulating into the engine's hot loop. These gasses are then separated from the desired coolant by the filters and pumped into the waste loop's hot side. Heat is transferred from the waste, through the heat exchanger, and into the waste cold loop which uses separate coolant to transfer the heat out to the radiator. All of this is done to cool the waste gases and in turn raise their density making them easier to pump and store in the waste container, which should periodically be emptied by your friendly local Atmospheric Technician. Important Information This section covers most information you require when operating near active supermatter core. Safety Gear Supermatter is highly radioactive, and safety gear should be equipped when operating near the engine. It is also recommended to wear protective gear when operating in adjacent rooms, for your safety. * Radiation Suit * Radiation Hood * Optical Meson Scanners * (Optional) Gas Mask (when manipulating gas cans) * (Optional) Insulated Gloves (when manipulating wiring or SMES units.) Setup Gear In addition to previous safety gear, following tools are recommended for setup * Tool Belt (stocked with all standard tools and multitool) Supermatter Interaction Please note that supermatter is very dangerous, and touching it will instantly reduce you to pile of radioactive ashes. If it is absolutely necessary to physically interact with supermatter core, genetic backup is highly reccomended. The only safe way of moving supermatter (without killing yourself) is pulling (right click on supermatter and select Pull) Engine Setup This section covers the most basic supermatter engine setup. Engine Section Map This map shows engine section layout 540px Click the image for full resolution. Coolant Choice Multiple theories on which gas to use as Supermatter coolant exist. This section will provide information on all commonly used coolant types. Nitrogen (Standard) Nitrogen is optimal coolant choice for basic setups. It is inert gas with average heat capacity. Engine Room contains four nitrogen canisters, which means it is easy to obtain. Engine filtering system is also preconfigured for Nitrogen coolant, making setup slightly faster Oxygen (Hardcore Mode) Oxygen both results in lower engine output, is extremely flammable, and induces runaway chain reaction in the core. In other words - do not use oxygen. It's only correct use is cold start as described in "Emergency Procedures" section of this guide. Carbon Dioxide CO2 is slightly better than Nitrogen, due to it's 50% larger heat capacity. This means engine cooled by CO2 transfers heat to TEG's more efficiently - resulting in slightly lower operating temperature and higher power output. It has no disadvantages over N2. Phoron Phoron is superior coolant type in terms of heat capacity. With 1000% larger heat capacity than nitrogen only small amount of coolant is required to transfer generated heat to TEGs. This results in significant increase of power output when compared to N2 or CO2. Unlike these, however, Phoron is not inert. Phoron based engines are very susceptible to oxygen, as Oxygen + Phoron mix is extremely flammable. It is recommended to ensure filtration operates properly, as oxygen buildup and few sparks can quickly reduce the engine into pile of radioactive slag. Please note that occasional flash fires may occur. Those are generally not dangerous, but it is recommended to leave the core shutters closed. Coolant Injection # Obtain four canisters of coolant you selected in previous section. Nitrogen canisters are available in Engine Room, other types can be obtained in Atmospherics or Engineering Storage. Four canisters are recommended, two are absolute minimum. # Transport these canisters into engine room. # Wrench one canister to each of injection ports. Enable pumps, set them to 15 000kPa (MAX setting) # Wait until canisters are fully injected, then swap them for second pair of filled ones. Amount of gas left in the canister is visible in it's UI, accessible by clicking the canister. Intercooler Setup Intercooler cools waste produced by engine. It is located behind shutters in western side of engine room. It has to be filled by coolant gas, in similar way the engine is filled. While Oxygen is safe here (as it won't reach Supermatter), it is still very bad coolant and therefore not recommended. Two nitrogen canisters or one phoron canister is available in Engineering Storage. Alternatively you may obtain any other coolant type from atmospherics depending on your preference, however impact of different coolant is much lower here than it is with engine core itself. # Obtain one canister of coolant gas # Move coolant canister to intercooler injection port, wrench it in place and turn the pump on. Set the pump pressure to MAX setting. # Wait until canister is fully injected. Unwrench it. Relabel the canister to "CAUTION" (Click canister, and use the Relabel button, if it's gray the canister isn't empty). # Wrench the canister on waste output port inside the intercooler room. NOTE: The waste output port is NOT the port in the main engine room next to the button for controlling the radiation shutters; wrenching a can there will just drain the good coolant straight back out of the engine. Filtration Setup # Locate two Omni filters in western side of engine room. These filter out waste from engine core. Click each of them to open the control UI. # If the engine coolant is Nitrogen, skip to step four. # Click the Configure button, and change the "Nitrogen" entries to your coolant type. Then click Configure button again to confirm the changes. # Turn the filters on. # Locate filter output pump and turn it on (MAX pressure setting). SMES Setup Engine has two file:SMES.png SMES units. SMESs are complex power storage devices. They may be controlled with RCON console located in engine control room, or operated manually by standing next to them. Depending on engine setup, engine produces between 800 to 1200+ kilowatts of energy. Full functionality of SMESs is described on SMES page. Engine Room SMES should be set to 250 000 Input (Auto) and 250 000 Output (Online). You always want this SMES to be fully charged, as it powers engine cooling systems, and without these cooling system the engine tends to fail rapidly. Main SMES should be set to ~750 000 Input (Auto) and similar Output (Online). This is very variable, depending on your current engine output level. Ideally you want to use all power generated by the engine. NOTE: You may always check engine output by clicking one of the engine output cables with multitool. Remember to wear safety gear! NOTE: SMES units are clever, and will partially charge when there is not enough available power on input wire. Having slightly higher input settings than actual power generation is okay! NOTE: SMES units are capable of balancing loads. When there is not enough power, the SMESs will charge at same percentage of input setting (example: Two SMESs are set to input at 100kW and 200kW, available power is only 200kW, so the SMESs will charge at 66% of input setting) Radiator Setup # Locate the engine radiator circulation pump. # Turn the pump on (MAX setting) Startup Pre-Start Checklist It is a good idea to go through this pre-start checklist before you energise the core, in order to ensure that you didn't skip any critical steps. # Is there sufficient amount of coolant? You can tell by looking at the TEGs. Left side should be spinning slowly. # Is the radiator pump enabled? Once again, you can find out by looking at the TEGs. Right side should be slowly spinning too. # Is there an empty canister on waste port? # Are the waste filters and pump enabled and set correctly? # Is there coolant gas in the intercooler? This might not be necessary if you installed a freezer. Emitter Activation # You are already wearing your standard safety gear, right? # Before proceeding ensure all previous steps have been properly completed. Checklist above is good for this. # Open core charging port with apropriate button located either in engine control or next to the core room. # Click emitter to turn it on. Emitters fire series of four high powered laser blasts. Do not walk in front of active emitter unless you want a nice new hole in your chest (often instant kill). You may also use apropriate button in engine control room to turn emitter on/off. # Count carefully. You want to fire at least eight shots. Depending on coolant type you may want to use more emitter shots in order to get more power. Table below describes how many emitter shots may be fired depending on coolant type. # Close the shutters. This is recommended as rare flash fires may damage the core windows, eventually breaking them and causing core breach. NOTE: If emitter failed to start check the SMES unit in engine room. If it is completely discharged read "Cold Start" part of Emergency Situations section. Upgrades Upgrades are optional setup steps which may significantly increase engine performance. Waste Freezer Waste processing uses radiator to cool engine waste. When engine operates at high temperatures (3000K+) this waste takes lots of time to cool. It is possible to install a freezer on waste line to help with this. # Obtain a manifold from Atmospherics # Install the manifold next to the the waste canister port, by replacing one of the straight/bent pipes. # Construct a freezer that connects to this manifold. Parts for one freezer may be found in Tech Storage. # Enable the freezer. Setting temperature below zero is not necessary, and will help you save some power. Twenty celsius (default value) should be enough. Coolant Selection As outlined above, other coolant types than Nitrogen exist. Advantages and disadvantages of other coolant types were already described above. Experiment with different coolant choice to find optimal solution for your engine. As a side note, hybrid setups (different coolant type for hot and cold loops) generally bring minimal increase in output, while complicating use of emergency cooling valves, should you ever require to use them. Coolant distribution Experiment with different amounts of your favorite coolant. "More coolant better" is not true! The radiator loop (right side of TEGs) works better at higher pressure (denser gas is better at radiating heat), while core loop (left side of TEGs) generally works better with lower amount of coolant. 1:3 ratio is one possibility, but feel free to use any ratio you want. SMES Upgrade Engineering Storage contains some spare parts for SMES units. Refer to page SMES for information on how to upgrade existing units. This will increase energy storage and/or input/output capacity depending on used coils. Adding more TEGs This is very rarely seen, but it is possible. You can order parts for another TEG in cargo. Each TEG is rated for 500kW stable output. It is possible to output more but TEGs generally get less and less efficient as their power output increases. 1MW/TEG is entirely possible, 2MW/TEG is quite hard, and 3MW/TEG is nearly impossible for prolonged duration. Customize Engine was designed to be easily customizable. Other upgrades than those outlined in this section exist. Remember that you should get permission from Chief Engineer before you install any larger modifications. Always try to run practice simulation before testing things on live engine. OOC NOTE: For larger modifications, try testing it on local server first. We are not to be held responsible if any of following occurs: Radiation spikes, core overheat, core structural failure, lynch mobs attempting to hunt you down, supermatter delamination, death. Warranty void when any of previously mentioned incidents occurs. Good Luck. Maintenance While engine is designed to be mostly self sustaining, minor maintenance is needed to keep it running at optimal efficiency. Core Reenergisation Supermatter constantly loses small amount of energy. This, over time, results in drop of temperature, and power output. Depending on used coolant you will, eventually, have to re-energise the core if you want to maintain certain output level. This involves application of additional emitter shots, as already described in engine start section. However, please note that you should only fire one or two emitter blasts at most, otherwise the core may overheat. Waste Canister Replacement Engine produces Oxygen and Phoron as byproducts. Filters (if set up properly) remove every gas except coolant one. This waste gas is piped into waste canister. While pumps can pressurise gas up to 15 000kPa, they lack ability to go any further. For this reason, waste canister should be replaced every few hours (depending on fill level). Usually anything below 7 500kPa is fine even with large reserve. Anything above means the canister should probably be replaced. Obtain new, empty canister and replace the current one on waste port. Then dispose of waste gas canister. Usually Atmospheric Technicians will be able to handle it easily. Emergency Situations This section contains information on how to handle dangerous situations that may occur during engine operation. Important Information This subsection will cover basic information on engine behavior Temperature Core temperature is shown by core monitoring computer in engine control room. Temperature is critical for two reasons. * Supermatter core begins taking integrity damage above ~5000 Kelvins * High temperature may result in fire risk (if other conditions are met, ie: Fuel and Oxygen are present) Optimal temperature for engine operation is at most 3500 Kelvins. Safety cap is 4000 Kelvins. Core meltdown begins at 5000 Kelvins. This may be different depending on Chief Engineer's preferences and used coolant. However, 5000 Kelvins is maximal safe temperature. After exceeded core begins taking damage. Also do note that the core windows begin breaking around ~4300 Kelvins! Temperature may be dropped by adding more TEG units, expanding the cooling radiator, operating core at lower energy level, or (temporarily) by injecting more coolant. Please note that if you inject too much coolant, pressure will begin negatively affecting coolant flow, which may in fact result in increase of temperature. Integrity Integrity is numerical value used to determine core status. When integrity reaches 0% core delamination occurs. Currently, only two ways of damaging crystal integrity exist. Usually, this is caused by too large temperature, however very fast, sharp objects (such as bullets) may cause surface fractures which also result in integrity damage. Supermatter, however, can regenerate itself. This takes some time, and requires temperature to be below 5000 Kelvins. Low temperatures speed this up. To make monitoring easier, Supermatter has an integrated monitoring circuit and emergency transmitter. If integrity drops below 90% automated warnings will be broadcasted on engineering radio channel. If core passes critical point an alert will be sent to main channel. Integrity damage also results in phase shift in emitted light, described by eyewitnesses as "searing light that burns your eyes". This light intensifies with integrity damage, until integrity reaches zero. Firmware update 1.19.0 changed crystal's monitor software to allow remote monitoring by station AI or other synthetic lifeforms that are in range. This monitoring shows core temperature, pressure and integrity. Delamination Supermatter crystal is held together by well balanced tension and gravitation forces. Should integrity be damaged too much, these forces will be disbalanced, causing delamination. First, the external gravity force intensifies to massive level, causing almost everything nearby to be pulled to supermatter. This quickly annihilates the outer layer. When outer layer is annihilated (after ~15 seconds) gravitation force disappears. This will allow tension to shatter the crystal, resulting in massive release of all remaining energy (which is approximately 42,9 TJ depending on age of your specific core) This energy will be released in form of: * 3% Radiation - Massive radiation pulse, usually large enough to give dangerous dosage of radiation to everyone onboard. * 6-8% Psionic Shockwave - This effect isn't completely understood yet. Delamination releases massive amount of multispectral tetra radiation, which is known to have negative effect on neurological tissue. This may cause hallucinations. * 0.2% - 0.6% Photons - Delamination results in large flash of light, which may result in eye damage if you stand near it. * 90.8% - 88.4% Thermal/Kinetic energy - Crystal shatters, resulting in massive explosion. OOC NOTE: Delamination is very laggy, and usually takes up to 1-2 minutes to fully process. During this time server will be completely lagged. Simply wait until it finishes exploding. Diagnostics Previous section explained effects of engine failure. This section will explain failure diagnostics. Engine consists of large amount of components that cooperate to generate power. If one of the components fails whole engine or parts of it may cease to function. # Obtain all protective gear. # Visually check the emitter from engine control room. Wasn't it left online unattended? If yes, immediately disconnect it. If the emitter was left on by malfunctioning computer system it might be worthwhile to cut the cable to it, to prevent reactivation. # Check core monitoring console. If core temperature is very high, but coolant pressure very low (lower than 100-200 kPa) coolant leak may have occured. Verify that both inpump and outpump are enabled (NOT in "on hold" state). If coolant circulation is confirmed while pressure remains low it is suggested to proceed "Coolant Injection" section. Otherwise continue. # Check cameras in engine room. If there is any structural damage present proceed to "Core Breach" section. Otherwise continue. # Enter engine room. Verify piping and power supply. If any pipes were removed/damaged determine if current piping is sufficient to ensure cooling. This usually means core output leads to TEGs, and back into input. If this is not the case, repair pipes in a way which connects input, output and TEGs. If TEGs are damaged connect the cold and hot loops together. Filtering is not mandatory, as system can operate for limited amount of time even without it. # Begin checking all machinery. Is APC receiving enough power to run circulation? If not, either replace the APC cell, or ensure sufficient amount of power for it to operate (usually done by adjusting SMES settings or, if SMESs are damaged, by installing an emergency PACMAN generator) # Check TEGs. Are they operating properly? Are they wrenched down properly? # Is all machinery behaving as it should? If machine appears to be malfunctioning, attempt to bypass it or otherwise resolve the situation depending on machine which is causing failure. OOC NOTE: Remember that bugs exist, if you confirm that machine is working in very abnormal way, adminhelp it for immediate help, and if possible submit bug report. Thank you. # If you didn't manage to find the issue and core integrity dropped below 30% emergency core ejection is reccomended to ensure preservantion of station structure. After this, full investigation is recommended to determine cause of failure. Appropriate actions (at Heads of Staff discretion) should be taken. Actions This list shows list of possible actions that may be done to resecure overloaded core. Coolant Injection Very quick and quite efficient "first aid" method to help stabilize the core. Remember that newly injected coolant will combine with old coolant, so it usually won't drop temperature to normal level. Still, it buys you more time to act and begin working on other methods of core stabilization. Injection Of Different Coolant (IODC) With how current filtering works, this may greatly help mitigate overheat depending on amount of coolant used. This is most efficient with N2 as engine coolant. With how gases share heat capacity, you may inject canister of different gas (Phoron works best, CO2 is good too. It has to be different gas than main coolant type!). Gas will pass through chamber, equalizing heat with other gases If gas with high heat capacity is used (such as Phoron or CO2) it will soak up large portion of heat from existing coolant. With how filtering works, this gas will be quickly filtered out into waste loop, where it may be processed. While this is somewhat harder from logistical point of view, when used properly it helps secure even critically damaged core. Coolant Replacement Most efficient yet slightly wasteful method, if given enough time to do it. First obtain two canisters of fresh coolant (pre-cooled is good, but it can be room temperature too). Activate Core Vent button to begin venting all coolant into space. This quickly purges the coolant. Wait until coolant is vented, then close the vent shutters and begin injecting new coolant from prepared canisters. This will almost entirely eliminate any overheat (enough to return the core into safe mode below 5000K). NOTE: This will temporarily increase the rate at which supermatter takes damage, until new coolant is injected. Do not proceed if the core already took severe damage! Emergency Cooling Valves (EC) Engine is fitted with two digital EC valves. Opening these valves bypasses the TEGs and connects the engine output directly to the main radiator. This results in rapid cooling, but almost completely shuts down power generation. This also equalizes pressure between cold and hot loop, which may be undesired when specific ratio is used. Yet, it is very effective measure that resolves almost any overload. It is not advised to use this measure if you used different coolant gases for hot and cold loops! Emergency Core Ejection If core integrity drops below 30% activation of emergency core ejection is reccomended. Emergency core ejection is last resort function that uses mass driver to fire overloaded supermatter core away from station. However, core remains in station's SOI (Sphere Of Influence) and small probability exists that it will fly around the station and collide with different part of it. Alternatively it may impact Telecommunications or another valuable installation. This risk is however better than delamination inside engine room. Switch for emergency core ejection is located in Chief Engineers office. If necessary, ask the station's AI to let you in, or hack in. # Break protective glass cover on emergency core ejection button. # Press core vent button # Confirm that core vent is open, either by asking AI, other engineer, or checking the camera. There is a telescreen that allows you to check this in the office. # Press the emergency core ejection button. # Pray it worked. NOTE: Please note that if core ejection fails death is inevitable. Your PDA may be used as portable recorder for your last testament. Have a nice day. NOTE2: If core ejection is activated when vent doors are closed, core will be displaced from mass driver. Manual repositioning will be needed. This is very dangerous and likely to get you killed. You might want to find some poor Cyborg to do it instead of you. Good luck. Other Situations This last section describes possible situations that may occur during engine operation. Core Breach Core breach is very dangerous situation, during which core room is compromised. We have two kinds of core breach, each is handled in slightly different way. Inner Breach Inner breach occurs when walls, windows or doors between engine core and engine room are breached. This situation is very dangerous as coolant will merge with engine room atmosphere. Also, since engine room atmosphere contains oxygen, it will begin reacting with supermatter core inducing possible runaway reaction. First step should be repairing the breach, using any means possible. If repair is not immediately possible it is suggested to close the core shutters to prevent further contact with engine room atmosphere. If large amount of core coolant was lost it is suggested to use Coolant Replacement procedure or inject appropriate amount of coolant to restore standard levels. This type of breach is mostly caused by operating the engine at too high temperature levels. While reinforced borosilicate windows are highly resistant to high temperatures, they will, eventually, break. Maximal safe temperature is approximately 4300 Kelvins. Above this temperature you risk damage to the windows. Outer Breach Outer breach occurs when walls (or blast doors) between engine core and space are damaged to degree that causes coolant leak. If this occurs, coolant levels very quickly reach zero. However emergency solution exists. Immediately disable core input via control console. If you manage to do this in time you may save enough coolant to operate the core until wall is repaired. If more engineers are available (Engineering/Construction Cyborgs are great for this, as they are resistant to both low pressure and radiation) send someone EVA to repair breached core. Notify medbay that radiation treatment will be needed, engineering hardsuits are partially shielded, but won't offer 100% protection. Until core damage is repaired obtain more coolant. Inject it into coolant loop, but don't enable core input. When core breach is repaired re-enable injecting to ensure core is cooled. Remember that when core remains in low pressure heat builds up rapidly and integrity begins taking damage at much higher rate. Due to this reason you have to act quickly. If the core already reached dangerous integrity level you may want to briefly enable the core input. This will briefly cool the core, buying a little more time. This type of breach is mostly caused by operating the engine at extreme temperatures. Reinforced plasteel walls can handle only temperatures up to 6000 Kelvins. Meteors, space dust, and similar things may also cause this type of breach. NOTE: ALWAYS repair engine core walls with plasteel. Any wall other than reinforced plasteel one will have much lower melting temperature, which will most likely result in another core breach! Cold Start When SMES in engine room is completely depleted emitter won't have enough energy to fire. Therefore you need to do cold start. There are few methods on how to do this. Possible methods (sorted from best to worst): * PACMAN assisted jump start - This is simplest way. Disable charging on main SMES, and enable charging on engine SMES at full power. Connect PACMAN portable generator with wrench to input cable of engine room SMES. Turn on the PACMAN generator and wait a while. After one minute turn output to Online in UI of engine room SMES. Emitter should briefly regain power, which should be enough to fire at least one blast. After this some energy will be produced, which is enough to charge the SMES normally. Remember that PACMAN generator needs solid Phoron as fuel. * PACMAN out of fuel? Use the Solars. You will need wiring knowledge for this. Connect Engine Room SMES input to main power grid and charge it a bit with solars. Then continue with startup. * Solars gone? Don't worry, other way exists. Ask one of your friendly security officers/heads of staff with access to Energy Gun to come to Engineering with one. While lasers are weaker than emitters they are enough to slightly energize the core. Fire few laser blasts at supermatter core and it should be enough to start weak reaction which generates small amount of power. Do not use ballistic weapons, they would cause core damage! * No weapons on board? You may also use Oxygen. Large enough concentration of oxygen causes runaway chain reaction inside Supermatter, which should be enough to generate small amount of power. Doing this with Phoron cooling is extremely dangerous, however, due to involved fire risks. This is also somewhat unpredictable and oxygen should be filtered out as soon as possible. * No oxygen on board? (What are you breathing?!) Throw random objects at supermatter to energize it. If no objects are available throw yourself and die knowing you helped restoring station's power supply. Good job! Category:Guides